Question

Please choose two from the following list and prepare two essay responses, each 1-2 pages.

-The Values and experiences that shaped the traditional Chinese worldview

-Confucian Philosophy or Daoist Philosophy

-The Shang Dynasty

-The Zhou Dynasty

-The Chin Dynasty

-The Han Dynasty

-Japan's Classical Era

The Kamakura Shogunate

Answer 1

THE SHANG DYNASTY

The Shang Dynasty (c.1600-1046 BCE) was the second dynasty of China which succeeded the Xia Dynasty (c. 2700-1600 BCE) after the overthrow of the Xia tyrant Jie by the Shang leader, Tang. Since many historians question whether the Xia Dynasty really existed, the Shang Dynasty may have actually been the first in China and the origin of what has come to be recognized as Chinese culture.

The stability of the country during the Shang Dynasty led to numerous cultural advances such as industrialized bronze casting, the calendar, religious rituals, and writing. The first king, Tang, instantly began to work for the people of his country instead of for his own pleasure and luxury and provided a role model for his successors. These men created a stable government which would continue for 600 years but eventually, according to the records of the Chinese historians, they lost the mandate of heaven which allowed them to rule.

The Shang were overthrown by King Wu of Zhou in 1046 BCE who founded the Zhou Dynasty (1046-226 BCE). The Zhou would be the last before the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE) which unified China and gave it its name. By the time of the Zhou and Qin dynasties, Chinese culture was already formed, so if one discounts the Xia Dynasty as a politically motivated fabrication of later historians, one must conclude that the Shang Dynasty is responsible for the foundations of Chinese culture and civilization. If one accepts the Xia as historical reality, then it was still during the Shang Dynasty that the most important aspects of the culture were developed.

THE HAN DYNASTY

The Han dynasty (Chinese: 漢朝; pinyin: Hàncháo) was the second imperial dynasty of China (206 BC–220 AD), preceded by the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms period (220–280 AD). Spanning over four centuries, the Han period is considered a golden age in Chinese history.[4] To this day, China's majority ethnic group refers to themselves as the "Han Chinese" (Han Zu) and the Chinese script is referred to as "Han characters".[5] It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han, and briefly interrupted by the Xin dynasty (9–23 AD) of the former regent Wang Mang. This interregnum separates the Han dynasty into two periods: the Western Han or Former Han (206 BC – 9 AD) and the Eastern Han or Later Han (25–220 AD).

The emperor was at the pinnacle of Han society. He presided over the Han government but shared power with both the nobility and appointed ministers who came largely from the scholarly gentry class. The Han Empire was divided into areas directly controlled by the central government using an innovation inherited from the Qin known as commanderies, and a number of semi-autonomous kingdoms. These kingdoms gradually lost all vestiges of their independence, particularly following the Rebellion of the Seven States. From the reign of Emperor Wu (r. 141–87 BC) onward, the Chinese court officially sponsored Confucianism in education and court politics, synthesized with the cosmology of later scholars such as Dong Zhongshu. This policy endured until the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911 AD.